


The Arrow of Time

by missgutsy



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, College, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Memories, Older Man/Younger Woman, Past Relationship(s), Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 00:23:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12157821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missgutsy/pseuds/missgutsy
Summary: Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.Th-that shit’s a fairytale, kid, do-OOOHHn’t buy into it.In which Rick was nearly yours, and then he was gone.





	The Arrow of Time

Rain pitter-pattered calmly against the sidewalk as you walked home from your visit to the library, bright yellow umbrella keeping you (more or less) dry in your left hand, thick book tucked under your opposite arm.

You watched the ground, mostly, avoiding deep puddles and wandering cracks in the concrete. Sometimes you would look up to avoid cutting shoulders with someone walking toward you, or when your boots met the bold lines of a crosswalk.

_Step on a crack, break your mother’s back._

_Th-that shit’s a fairytale, kid, do-OOOHHn’t buy into it._

The textbook you were carrying felt a little heavier. You adjusted yourself, cradling it against your chest instead.

_Isn’t it good to believe in magic in your heart, even when you know in your mind that it isn’t real?_

_Not when you’re the smartest guy in the universe._

A beat-up sedan cut a corner too quickly, slipping in the rain. You stepped away from the curtain of water splashing over the sidewalk like a miniature tidal wave, watching the red lights disappear into the gray haze of the evening mist.

That was the last conversation you had with Rick. And then he was gone. A blinding blaze of electric green, his back turned to you. The portal had closed calmly behind him, as if it knew.

He wouldn’t be coming back.

A violent car horn startled you out of your daze: you were stopped in the middle of the street. The hefty book was slipping from your hold, but you clumsily gathered it back up while speed-walking to the other side of the intersection.

You didn’t remember the rest of the walk home. Nothing stood out to you. Just washes of white, gray, and black, blending together like a mediocre watercolor painting.

Leaning the dripping umbrella against the wall by the front door, you untied your boots and shrugged off your light jacket. Your apartment was normally a peaceful kind of almost-quiet with the hum of your fridge and the music from the delicate wind chimes on the balcony.

Instead, it felt eerie, like something was inside before you and had just left.

‘God, this place better not be suddenly haunted by ghosts,’ you thought wincingly, cautiously walking down the short hallway to your room.

You set the book down on your bedside table, next to an askew stack of other texts that you had been thumbing through. Neon-bright sticky notes poked out from in between pages.

The cover had gotten a little wet from the rain, but at least it wasn’t paperback. You took the hem of your shirt and wiped it dry, sitting on the edge of your bed with it in your hands.

Time Travel and Warp Drives: A Scientific Guide to Shortcuts Through Time and Space.

You smiled without humor, resting the book on your thighs and looking out the window. A few people walked up and down the sidewalk outside of your apartment building, heading this way, traveling that way. You briefly watched for glimpses of something familiar, but everything was too gray to distinguish one thing from another.

_You can’t jus-- you won’t LEARN anything by going to college, y’know, i-i-it’s just a waste of time and energy. If you’re smart, you’re smart, AND going for English is the most pointless ide-- thing that you, that you’ll ever do._

You touched the pads of your fingers against the book, splaying each digit out on the cover.

“I’m not good at science or math,” you said quietly, to this impossible book, to yourself, or maybe to the ghosts that were apparently making your place their own spooky pad, “but I’m good at finding you when you don’t want to be found, Rick.”

Thunder rumbled like an ancient god’s preemptive warning. Rick was not the kind of guy people generally went looking for when he made his exit. He wasn’t worth the trouble of keeping around.

You shifted, leaned back into your pillows, and opened to the first page.

**Author's Note:**

> Rick and Morty dug its claws into me and dragged me into hell. It's pretty nice down here, all things considered.
> 
> I feel that the next chapter will be a flashback, or a memory, to when Rick was still around. Look forward to that! And let me know what you think about this as it goes along, I'm all for reader input.


End file.
